Hot Topics:

In York County, mixed views on proposed end to door-to-door mail delivery

The U.S. Postal Service had a $16 billion loss last year.

By ED MAHON Daily Record/Sunday News

Updated:
07/24/2013 07:20:26 PM EDT

York, PA -

Ernest T. Brown, 70, said he was concerned about a proposal to phase out door-to-door mail delivery for the U.S. Postal Service. He's worried about having to walk further for his mail.

"There's a lot of senior citizens on my block," said Brown, a Spring Garden Township resident who was waiting at a bus stop in York Wednesday afternoon.

Curbside delivery, which includes deliveries to mailboxes at the end of driveways, and cluster box delivery would replace letter carriers slipping mail into front-door boxes.

The proposal is part of broader legislation by U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, designed to cut costs at the cash-strapped agency by up to $4.5 billion a year. The Postal Service had a $16 billion loss last year.

Advertisement

U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, R-York County, said in a statement that the Postal Service must be given the flexibility to modernize and streamline operations, or people could eventually face a massive taxpayer funded bailout.

"Although I may not agree with all the proposals under discussion, I'll review the bills in question with the goal of returning the USPS to long-term financial solvency while maintaining high-quality postal services for our citizens and local businesses," Perry said.

Deanne Shearer stopped at the post office on West Market Street in York Wednesday afternoon to send a package. She left before doing so, because she thought the line was too long.

Shearer, who is from the York area originally and now lives in Belgium, said her father, who is in his 80s, gets too much paper mail.

"The service needs to be changing," she said. "...The move should be to make mail obsolete."

She said if mail is only a short distance away from people, it wouldn't make much of a difference.

Brown said he's not a fan of the proposal, even if the Postal Service were to make exceptions for people with disabilities.

"I don't like anything that's going to cut down on the amount of mail carriers," he said. "They need their jobs."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More on the proposal

About one in three mail customers has door-to-door delivery, said U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. The shift would include safe and secure cluster box delivery areas, he said, especially for elderly customers who receive Social Security checks and prescriptions through the mail.